Life In Four Heartbeats
by Written Parody
Summary: Four drabbles about four times Korra couldn't help but kiss Mako. Makorra with the constant presence of the awesome Bolin. Probably very AU from episode 5. Contains hints of violence and gore and plotless, pointless fluff.
1. Air

**AN:** "I will not ship anything in Korra" indeed. Damn episode 5. Damn kiss. Damn Makorra. In case you missed my rant in my previous Korra fic: I tried to remain ship-neutral but that did NOT work out. Also, Zutara DOES NOT EQUAL Makorra. I adore both ships but they are totally different.

This was written on my phone whilst waiting for lectures during the day. This will probably be the last fic from me in a while. Don't ask about it: I dunno where it came from or what it's doing. The drabbles could be connected, if you want them to be. Also, if a miracle happens and somebody wants to flesh these drabbles out I will love you forever. Seriously.

**Disclaimer:** Korra isn't mine. These scenes probably won't happen because Bryke writes better than I do and they don't make the characters OOC like I have in this.

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**1. Air**

They'd known the Wolfbats would be tough to beat. They knew that they played hard and, quite probably, slightly dirty. But they'd never expected this; this level of ferocity, this level of rawness, this level of underhandedness that still managed to go unnoticed by the referee. When Korra, tired of being battered around, complained about it, Bolin muttered about Tahno having money. That just made her that much more furious.

Somehow, due to their stubborness and refusal to give up, they'd ended in a tie with the Wolfbats, meaning the fate of the final match rested solely on the sudden death one on one battle. The coin toss was about to begin and there was a part of Korra that just wanted to drag herself to her bed and sleep for a week. She was bruised, bleeding from cuts on her arms and cheek where her uniform had ripped and so exhausted she could feel it to her bones. Bolin caught her eye and gave her a grimace - he was as worried about their chances as she was. The Earthbender had taken many knocks as well and he was favouring his left arm, leading her to believe that the arm injured last match had been targeted once again. She refused to look at Mako who was standing on the other side of Bolin. If 'standing' could even be used for what Mako was doing. The Wolfbats, it seemed, deemed her only the second most important target and had instead focused most of their brutality on the Fire Ferrets' captain. Korra was sure Mako was still standing and fighting only out of sheer force of will.

Up flipped the coin and she held her breath, begging the spirits to have mercy on her team. The spirits did not; the Wolfbats won the coin toss. Korra's heart sank to her aching knees at the smirk on Tahno's face.

"We choose fire," he announced smoothly.

Korra had never wanted to hit him more than she did at that very moment. Even the imagined image of her fist breaking his nose was satisfying. If she could just...

The announcer was roaring something irrelevant to the crowd and as though drawn in by a sick force she could not ignore, Korra's attention was captured by Mako making his way onto the small platform. He was limping badly and every time he took a halting, swaying step Korra winced. She wanted to grab the referee by the scruff of his neck and demand that she take Mako's place, that she be their Firebender, that she'd make him so sorry if he didn't let Mako off. As though sensing her distress - or maybe it was simply because he needed the comfort himself - Bolin's hand was suddenly squeezing her shoulder. Korra swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around herself, resigned to waiting.

"And the final battle for the championship begins! It doesn't look good for the Fire Ferrets - their Firebender looks more likely to fall over than Firebend. And they're off! The Wolfbats immediately go for their opponent's weak spot and - Oh! Mako manages to dodge but he still came down hard on that leg. Looks like he's trying really hard not to collapse or at least swear. Now Mako's on the defence ag- oh, man! Direct kick to the chest! That must have _hurt_! But the Fire Ferrets are still in the game. You gotta hand it to both Firebenders - neither of them are giving up. And now it's Mako on the offence but his attacks look too weak to really be doing any damage. His attacks are being blown off easily and - woah! I'm sure that's a foul! Surely that's a foul?"

Bolin's hand was gripping Korra's shoulder so tight by now that it hurt, but the Avatar was too busy trying to stop herself from tearing Tahno and his team to little shreds. It had been a foul, but once more the referee was doing nothing about it. And Mako had yet to rise from his knees where the underhanded move had left him.

"Come on, Mako," Korra whispered. And then she yelled it, trying to infuse as much strength and self-righteous anger into her words as possible. "Come on, Mako! Come on!"

It was no longer just a matter of winning a game. The Wolfbats had made it personal and there was no way Korra would stand losing to them now. Even if they lost the match they would not lose their dignity or their fight. It simply could not happen like that.

"And Fire Ferret Mako is back on his feet! Although how long he's going to stay that way is very debatable at this stage. Once again the Wolfbats attack and boy does he look sure of himself! Can't say I blame him - victory is as good as theirs by now. Mako struggling to hold his own and - my word! I have never seen a move quite like that before! Mako comes back with a force that seems impossible for his condition and a move that was so fast I can't even tell what it was! Whatever it was it's given him the upper hand and allowed him to keep on the attack... Looks like Mako has run out of steam, though, and I'm not sure he has anything left. Mako on the defence... Mako trying to fight back but not really succeeding... Mako being forced to the edge as his opponent comes closer and closer for the final attack and - Mako blowing his opponent completely off his feet with another surprise move! Both Firebenders are on their knees now, folks and I don't know - oh! Mako attacks again with a very weak blast of fire but maybe... Yes! I don't believe it! The Wolfbats are in the drink! The Fire Ferrets-!"

Korra didn't hear anything more; she was too busy screaming. And then Bolin was crushing her so hard she thought he might strangle her and she felt wetness on her shoulder as he sobbed. Injuries forgotten the two barrelled forward as one and tackled a completely stunned Mako, each trying to hug him hard enough to express their feelings of utter elation and relief. Halfway through the hug Mako's stunned silence shattered and he began to laugh, a sound that thrilled through Korra's body and caused Bolin to grab her and spin her around the arena with one arm.

She could honestly not remember a time she'd ever been that happy; that deliriously giddy with relief and pride and elation and the desire to cry despite so many eyes watching. Her heart swelled inside her chest, threatening to lift her into the sky so she could soar amongst the clouds where she felt sure she belonged. The happiness was so consuming she suddenly, for the first time, really understood what Tenzin must feel when he bent air.

And so that's exactly what she did. Korra let go of Bolin and copied the move she'd been struggling with for weeks. This time something happened - she expected nothing less in her utter elation - and the mini-tornado caused the dust to rise from the arena and swirl happily around them as she spun. Her spinning brought her crashing into Mako - who had finally managed to rise shakily to his feet - and the whirlwind emotions tearing through her would let her do nothing less than reach up and kiss him.

Luckily her momentum and the hurricane of dirt and dust made the kiss swift enough that nobody else noticed it. After a while her guilt and mortification ceased enough that she could look at him again. Supported by a grinning Bolin, Mako caught her gaze and gave her a tentative half-smile that turned into a grimace as an excited Bolin dragged him forward too quickly. She knew that that was his way of saying that things were still confusing: it wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no, either. And even though she told herself to forget what she'd done and put it down to a mistake that had been made in the heat of the moment she couldn't forget what it had felt like.

The taste of him. His head. His elevated heartbeat thrumming beneath her fingers.

The way he'd kissed her back this time, as well.

And she could honestly not deny that that 'mistake' had been the thing to make the victory one hundred percent perfect.


	2. Water

**2. Water**

She would never be able to get his laugh out of her head. That humourless, sadistic, dry sound would haunt her for the rest of her life after that night. If she actually managed to live to see the next sunrise.

Korra dropped her head to the floor in despair and felt the tears well up in her eyes as Amon's laughter was broken by the sound of screams. One set was full of agony and belonged to Bolin. The other set was rage and abuse and swearwords that would have made her ears burn. She had never thought Mako would resort to such language. But she supposed that if anything was worth cursing over, it was seeing your only brother get tortured meters away from you while being able to do nothing. Korra wasn't sure which one was worse: Bolin screaming and writhing under the Equalists' hands or Mako stoically taking every punishment they inflicted on him with cold eyes and a silence that chilled her to the core.

She could remember that she'd screamed for the first few hours of their torture. She'd screamed abuses as Mako was now when they started on her friends. She'd begged them – literally thrown herself on her knees and _begged_ them – to torture her instead and leave the brothers out of it. She'd screamed when they'd honoured her request for a while before returning to playing with Mako and Bolin just to cause her more pain. She was not screaming this time around, and it was not only because her throat was raw and every inch of her ached. There were other emotions stirring in her gut that kept her from crying out. Emotions that had no name and no familiarity whatsoever in her mind. And yet… she did know them. She hadn't felt them before but she _had_. These emotions were growing with each second, smoldering beneath her crying exterior and slowly – slowly yet surely – they began to claw their way upwards.

Up, up, up… Stronger, stronger, stronger…

They beat in time with her quickening heart. Consuming. Clawing. Foreign familiarity.

Up, up, up…

Bolin stopped screaming and Mako stopped cursing. Satisfied with the hatred and pain in their eyes, Amon turned back to his main trophy. Seeing her, battered and defeated with her head to the ground, made his smirk widen to a dangerous side. Baiting the bending brothers was not nearly as satisfactory as it was baiting her. They were simply pawns. She was the queen. And breaking her was the sweetest tasting victory.

"Korra…"

One of his lackeys kicked the Firebender in his injured side viciously, punishing him for trying to restore the spirit of his beloved Avatar. Amon ignored the Firebender's choked grunt and instead prowled toward his trophy.

"You must have known this was coming, Avatar. Surely." She didn't move, and he noted the stain her tears had made on the ground with delight. "Look at me, Avatar Korra. I want to see your eyes when I take everything from you."

For a moment, Korra defied him. And then, just as he was about to repeat his demand, she obeyed it, snapping her head up so fast the movement was a blur.

The eyes that met his were glowing bright blue.

And then the fury of hell was released upon him.

The three Fire Ferrets were outnumbered four to one, but none of the Equalists or their chi-blocking were any match for the Avatar. With one swift movement she was free of her bonds, a hurricane starting up around her that sucked the fire from the torches on the walls and swirled it around her in rotations so fast it was a red-hot blur. The walls and floor quaked and rattled as she raised her arms and brick split open like soggy paper as she drew water from hundreds of meters underground. The entire base was shuddering under her might, and some Equalists had already started running. She slammed the few surrounding the brothers through the trembling walls and slit through their restraints. Their former captors did not get up again.

And then she took a step toward Amon.

Some of his braver, more loyal lackeys tried to come to his defense. They were like grains of sand flying at an erupting, seething volcano.

For a few minutes Bolin could only gape at the sight before him, unable to process the sight of Korra that he was being presented with. Then Mako was suddenly at his side, touching his shoulder and asking if he was okay. Getting himself and his brother to their feet was not an easy task, but they finally managed and asserted that, while painful, they could walk. As soon as this detail was sorted out, their eyes immediately returned to Korra.

The sight was awesome, majestic, beautiful, terrifying…

"Korra." Bolin's voice shook a little. "It's over. You can stop."

Korra paid them no heed, and the fear increased.

"Korra!"

"Korra!" Mako took up the cry as well, but the Avatar showed no signs of hearing them.

Slowly, half because of his injuries and half out of caution, Mako made his way over to her. Just as she was about to dig into a fallen Equalist again, Mako grabbed her arm. "Korra!"

This time, she turned. For a second he was actually sure she would attack _him_. He'd never been a bit scared of her until that very second. But all she did was stand and stare at him blankly, one arm still raised in the direction of the Equalist.

"You've got to stop," he told her quietly, using the voice he'd used for all those years on the streets when Bolin had been petrified or rebellious or a bit of both. "You've done it. Now calm down. You're okay. Everything's okay. You're fine." Behind them, Bolin shifted, recognizing the last three sentences for what they were: Mako had used that mantra on him countless times before, repeating the words over and over until they finally proved true. It was what had gotten them through the winters and the starvation and the gangs and the nightmares. "You're okay, Korra. Everything's okay."

Still the Avatar did not respond verbally, but she began tugging her hand free of his grip. Desperate, Mako clung on tighter, despairing when her tugging grew stronger. Dimly, at the back of his mind, he remembered a saying about shocking somebody out of a rage. He let go of her hand and instead captured her face with both his hands, cupping it tenderly and watching the blue glow reflect off his pale skin.

He kissed her.

Once more he felt his heart quicken in the way that only she could cause and he wondered vaguely why he didn't capture her lips with his more often. She was soft pressed up against him; soft and warm and…

Unresponsive.

And then, as the kiss lasted to a full five seconds, the blue glow he still saw from behind his closed eyelids disappeared. Suddenly Korra's body seemed to thaw, turning from heartless ice to a flowing river once more. Her rigid form relaxed and he could almost hear her heart begin to beat again, as though her staple element was reviving all the organs in her body as well as everything that made her _her_.

Her lips molded around his with her patent fiery warmth for one long moment before he was catching her falling, unconscious body automatically. Bolin helped him drag her from the crumbling building and the Earthbender made no mention of the method he'd used to bring their friend back to them. Mako wanted to apologize but as he turned and opened his mouth Bolin just shook his head, once, patted his shoulder – or it could have been intended to be a punch – and carried on hobbling forward.

Neither brother mentioned it when they told Korra the story after she awoke. Both suspected she knew, anyway.


	3. Fire

**3. Fire **

"He's not going to get away this time."

Korra had every intention of keeping her promise: no matter what it took, Amon would be brought to justice that day. After all he'd done and all he'd planned to do… After his lies, manipulations and actions that had devastated so many people, cost so many lives… She had been scared of him before, but now she was just determined. Amon was _hers _and she hoped he knew some spirits to pray to.

"Still need more manpower for this war of yours?"

She spun around in surprise and her heart both sank and soared at the same time. Mako's and Bolin's smiling faces brought relief and terror all at once.

"You guys should-"

"We're not leaving," Mako interrupted her firmly, his eyes stubborn. "We're not letting you do this alone."

"But I-"

"But nothing," Bolin cut across her. "You're our friend. Nah, screw that. You're our _family_. And there aren't any rules that say you _have _to go in alone."

"So suck it up," Mako added with a smirk.

Something tight constricted Korra's chest and throat. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Avatar Korra." Tarrlok's voice was impatient. "We're waiting for you."

She nodded mutely and moved toward him but a hand on her elbow stopped her movements. Once more she glanced back at the brothers, who gave each other a knowing smile before each holding out a hand to her. Grinning and feeling the burden on her lift ever so slightly, Korra slipped her left hand into Bolin's right one and her right into Mako's left. And then the three of them followed Tarrlok together.

Later when she thought back over the battle, all she could remember was noise and light and destruction. She didn't remember who she helped, how many she froze or bound in rock or blasted away with air and fire. She didn't remember how many close calls with chi-blocker fingers she had. She didn't remember how many times she'd fallen, or how she'd received most of the bruises and cuts that adorned her body. She didn't remember her little dance with Amon or who made the first move or what was said. All she remembered was pumping determination, desperation, fear and the ever-present worry for the two men she'd had to let go of at the beginning of the fight.

And then… there was silence.

All around her noise and light and destruction continued, but in her bubble of space there was peace. She was standing victorious and Amon was at her feet, reduced to the powerless, snivelling coward he really was underneath it all. Chief Beifong arrived and took care of the actual arresting, leaving Korra – weak with relief and completely confused to how it had actually ended – to stumble back outside. As the news of Amon's defeat leaked out, the rest of the small fights began to end, whether in surrender, retreat or capture. She did not care for any of these fights – her mind was on only two people.

The closer she got to the outside and the sunlight, the more the numb disbelief gave way to sheer, indescribable happiness. It was over. It was all over. They had won. When the victory cheer sounded, she could not help but join in, screaming at the top of her lungs and breaking into a run. The sun felt glorious on her skin, warm, friendly and welcoming. Inside her a fire was raging; one of so many emotions and so much relief that she felt she would burst with it. Bolin was the first to catch her, sweeping her right off her feet as he embraced her. And then he let her go, gave her a knowing smile and inclined his head to their right.

Korra turned to find a dirty but very alive Mako staring at her.

The fire in her built and spurred her forward, pushing her legs to pump the fastest they could. She literally leapt at him, wrapping her arms and legs around him and yanking his face desperately toward hers. Mako wound his arms around her waist and kissed her back with wild abandon, holding nothing back. The fire within her reached a crescendo and everything but the man in her arms faded to silence.

He was burning her, and she'd never felt more whole.


	4. Earth

**4. Earth **

Korra had always known she'd have to go home. Although, as she faced the ship that would take her back to the South Pole, she wondered where 'home' really was. The beautiful landscape of snow and ice that had once been her sanctuary now seemed bleak and desolate, with only a few loved faces calling her heart to the place. Most of her soul belonged in the city behind her – to the place where she'd found herself and a spot she'd never dreamed she could have.

"Korra." Tenzin, already on the ship, beckoned to her patiently. "The captain wants to leave."

With her heart feeling like it was made of rock, Korra started up the gangplank, not paying attention to whatever Meelo and Ikki were destroying on the deck that was making their father suddenly go bananas.

"Korra!"

A smile broke across her face and she whirled back, immediately making her way over to the two late arrivals.

"About time! I was beginning to think you guys would let me leave without saying goodbye."

"I wasn't going to come, but he made me," Mako told her in a deadpan, indicating Bolin with his head.

"Jerk," Korra shot at him, grinning widely. He smirked back.

"Come back soon. We'll miss you," Bolin told her shoulder as he hugged her. "Mako's such a pain in the ass to me without you around to be his target."

"I'll be back as soon as I can." She vowed it with all her heart. "Take care of yourself, alright? And Pabu. And don't eat the two of you out of house and home." Then she turned to the Firebender and raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't freeze into a popsicle."

She frowned to hide her amused smile. "And?"

"Work on your Waterbending for next season's Probending."

"And?"

"Korra! They want to leave!" Tenzin yelled at her, less calm now.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Now there was a note of desperation in her as she looked at Mako. "_And_?"

"And I'm going to get a proper job." He seemed just as desperate. "They'll hire me now, after everything. That will get Bo and I a proper apartment. I'll be worth something."

That was still not what she wanted to hear – he had always been worth everything to her. "And?"

Mako hesitated but then bent down and kissed her. It was short, chaste and standard but it still sent thrills through her body.

"That's better," she told him smugly, before hugging Bolin once more and scampering up the gangplank.

Every step away from her boys made the rock in her chest intensify. By the time she was on the deck of the ship and it was casting off, all she wanted to do was jump overboard and swim back to the land. Bolin and Mako didn't make matters easier for her; both of them stood at the very edge of the dock and watched as she grew smaller and smaller.

Suddenly, Mako cupped his hands and yelled something to her.

"What?" she yelled back, leaning right over the rails to try and catch his words.

"I'll wait for you!" Mako bellowed.

Stone melted into flesh again and suddenly the whole world seemed so much better, brighter, more beautiful…

"You'd better!" she bellowed back, heart soaring, chest burden free and cheeks aching from the size of her smile.


End file.
